The present invention is directed to a word game wherein words are formed by arrangement of letters of the alphabet appearing on the faces of a set of dice wherein each letter represented and the number of times that letter is represented in the set of dice, is based on the relative frequency of their appearance in a corpus of words.
The use of dice or cubes displaying letters for use in games or as learning tools is well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 557,307 issued Mar. 31, 1896 discloses a spelling block that combines on the surfaces of the blocks, letters, numbers, and pictures that when the blocks are arranged in numerical order, the letters will be in order to correctly spell the word represented by the pictures.
U.S. Pat. No. 830,514 issued Sep. 11, 1906 discloses a board game with letters and "men". The letters are carried on pieces, and several are provided bearing each letter, for example, sixteen of each vowel and eight of each consonant or different numbers of each depending on the frequency of common use in spelling. Preferred are pieces bearing letters on each of more than one face with each face having its own color of letter or background to distinguish the pieces of each player. All of the pieces bear the same combination of colors and backgrounds and each letter appears several times in each color. In one embodiment, the pieces have six faces with each face having a different letter and a different color, with several pieces having the same arrangement of letters, e.g., thirty of which five will have letters in one series of colors, five in a second series of colors, and so on making for the plurality of sets 5.times.6.times.5=150 for the alphabet. These pieces may be used in a number of games in which words are spelled out on the board and for which points will be awarded.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,286,631 issued on Dec. 3, 1918 discloses blocks for use as an educational tool by which pupils are taught the formation of simple words by combining the letters on the faces of two blocks wherein the blocks have on certain ones, consonants or combinations of consonants which form the initial part of a word, and on the other blocks, a set of phonograms which form the terminal part of words. Those blocks used in the practice of the invention are divided into two classes; class 1 including those having on each face a single consonant, a digraph or combination of consonants, and class 2 having on each face a phonogram, the arrangement of letters on blocks of the former class may vary, e.g., all the letters on a single block may be the same, or they may be in pairs on opposite faces or the letter on each face of the block may be different. In addition to carrying the initial consonants, the blocks of class 1 can carry the digraphs "ch", "gh", "sh", and "th" and also such combinations as "spl" and "thr". The letters displayed on Class I blocks are printed on a white surface. Class 2 blocks carry the phonograms "a", "e", "i", "o", "u", "w", and "y" printed on red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet respectively, and thus, when the phonograms are arranged in the order of their respective initial vowel, the colors are presented in their proper order.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,412,204 (the '204 patent) issued on Apr. 11, 1922 discloses a game apparatus consisting of several sets of cubes, each set being of a different color from the other sets with each set having printed on each of its faces one letter of a word so that the letters on the six faces of a cube spell a complete word (the target word). In the practice of the invention, each set comprises six cubes, and words are chosen so that no letters are duplicated. In practice, the complete word will be spelled when the six cubes of any set are arranged in such order that the proper faces are uppermost.
The game set out in the '204 patent is played by tossing or rolling the set of cubes in an attempt to spell a target word. The players then attempt to spell the given word, and the highest number of points is awarded for spelling the complete word while correspondingly, fewer points are awarded for the fewer letters of the target word. As an example, 25 points may be awarded for spelling a complete six-letter word, while 20 points would be awarded for the first five letters of the target word, while 15 points may be awarded for the first four letters of the target word, and so on down to 5 points being awarded for the first two letters of the target word.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,481,628 issued Jan. 22, 1924 discloses a dice game simulating poker. The game uses three cubes colored red, white, and blue in a manner such that opposite sides of a cube have the same color with each side of each cube carrying an index or carder representing the suit in playing cards.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,524,529 issued Jan. 27, 1925 discloses a game apparatus including a set of ten cubical blocks, each face of each block having letters displayed thereon. Forty of the faces display the twenty consonants of the alphabet, each duplicated, each two similar consonants being on different dice, with the vowels a, e, i, and o appearing on eight pairs of opposed faces, with the remaining four faces displaying the vowels u and y.
U.S. Patent No. 1,584,316 issued May 11, 1926 discloses a word game that includes a plurality of dice-like cubes or playing pieces bearing on their various faces letters of the alphabet or blanks. While the patent states that the number of playing pieces is not a vital feature of the invention, a game using five pieces is exemplified. According to the patent, the letters chosen for use are the letters of the alphabet from which the greatest number of words can be formed and further, to facilitate the formation of words, the letters on the various pieces are arranged so that they are likely to produce word-forming combinations with letters on the other pieces. More particularly, three or more pieces have one blank face, the remaining faces being provided with vowels or consonant letters; all the consonants being employed except J, K, Q, V, X, Y, Z, which occur with the least frequency, while some such as S and R are employed twice. The invention also utilizes all of the vowels with some such as I and O being employed twice while some such as A and E being used three times. The consonants are placed so that those appearing frequently in words are located on different pieces; the consonants also being placed so that those occurring frequently in words without a vowel between them are on different pieces. Further, the vowels are placed so that those occurring frequently in words without a consonant between them are on different pieces.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,684,609 issued Sep. 18, 1928 discloses a set of dice displaying letters on each face of each die such that when the dice are arranged to expose the spelling of a preselected word on the uppermost face of the dice, the side and front faces of the dice will expose the spelling of words which will read in sense-making, continuing with the first words.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,491,883 issued Dec. 20, 1949 (the '883 patent) discloses a game apparatus comprising four cubes, each cube having a letter on each of its faces, one of the cubes having the vowel letters A, E, I, O, and U on five of its faces, the sixth face having an indicia thereon, a second cube having three vowel letters and three consonant letters thereon, with the remaining cubes having only consonants letters thereon. In another embodiment, the game comprises a set of four cubes having the same distribution of vowels as described in the first embodiment on one cube, a second cube having the vowel letters A, E, and O and different consonants on the remaining faces with the remaining two cubes having only unlike consonant letters thereon. In still another embodiment, the game comprises a plurality of cubes, each cube having a letter on each of its faces and adjacent to each letter a number, one of the cubes having only vowel letters on five faces thereof and an indicia on the sixth face, another cube having three different vowel letters and three different consonant letters on its faces, the remaining cubes having only consonant letters on their faces. Another embodiment of the invention disclosed in the '883 patent comprises a game apparatus comprising a plurality of cubes, each cube having an alphabetical letter on each of its faces and adjacent to each letter an integer of a value substantially inversely proportional to the frequency of the particular letter's occurrence in words, one of the cubes having different vowel letters on five faces thereof at an indicia on the sixth face, another cube having three different vowel letters on three faces thereof and three consonant letters on the remaining three faces, with the remaining cubes having only consonant letters on their faces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,700 issued Jun. 19, 1990 discloses a dice word game set and a method of playing a dice word game. Each side of each die of a set of dice is marked with a unique letter of a target word so that the die contains all letters of a target word. To play the game, each player is given a set of dice, one for each letter in a target word. The player rolls one die, attempting to roll the first letter of the target word. If the roll is successful, the die is added to a completion set that partially spells the target word, and the player attempts to roll the next letter in the target word. When a player has completed the target word, he wins the game.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,366 issued Oct. 30, 1990 (the '366 patent) discloses a matching word game comprising a set of six-sided cubes, the number of which is equal to the number of letters in a pre-selected word, and wherein each face of each cube bears a different letter and some sides of a different cube bearing the same letter allegedly in accordance with the approximate frequency of usage of the letters in a word. The number of cubes in a set must provide a total number of faces, in multiples of six, substantially greater than the number of letters in the alphabet in order that letters can be distributed at random among the faces of the cubes of the set in accordance with their frequency of use in the language, with no letter being repeated on a single cube. One cube may bear two letters of a selected word, one or more of these letters being also repeated on other cubes of the set. In order to correctly match a word, a player must arrange the cubes correctly so that each letter is selected from a cube that does not also carry another letter of the word, which cannot be provided by any other cube. Each player has a set of cubes, and the winner is determined by whomever arranges his cubes to spell the preselected word in the shortest possible time. The game further comprises a plurality of cards each bearing a preselected word composed of letters, each of which appears on a face of a separate cube. However, examination of the letters used and the number of times each letter is used in the practice of the '366 patent reveals that the letter usage does not accurately reflect their actual relative frequency (see below).